New Sesame Street cast member with nose ring

On a lark, I watched a little Sesame Street today and I was introduced to a new human character I had never seen on the Street before. I believe her name was Lena, but Muppet Wiki doesn't have a listing for this specific character under that name. Anyway, the interesting thing about Lena was that she had a nose ring. My dad, who was watching with me, thought that this was an inappropriate thing for a Sesame Street character to have. I agree that it was a little jarring but more than that, I was wondering if CTW had a similar policy as the Disney Theme Parks regarding cast members (no piercings, no tattoos, no facial hair, etc.) What do you guys think?

First of all, Disney recently changed their castmate policy and will now allow facial hair such as beards and goatees.
Secondly, Lena is one of the newer characters on Sesamstrasse, the German co-production. She is however a baby monster, so I'm not sure that's the character you meant.
It is possible you were talking about the most recent addition to the US cast, Leela who comes from an Indian background because her actress is of that particular nationality.
Because of my visual acuity or lack there of, I wouldn't know if she does wear a nose ring or not. Dunno what the hubbub over this is, but hey at least others may chime in after this.

First of all, Disney recently changed their castmate policy and will now allow facial hair such as beards and goatees.
Secondly, Lena is one of the newer characters on Sesamstrasse, the German co-production. She is however a baby monster, so I'm not sure that's the character you meant.
It is possible you were talking about the most recent addition to the US cast, Leela who comes from an Indian background because her actress is of that particular nationality.
Because of my visual acuity or lack there of, I wouldn't know if she does wear a nose ring or not. Dunno what the hubbub over this is, but hey at least others may chime in after this.

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I was aware of the Sesamstrasse character; that's why I made the disclaimer that maybe that wasn't her name. In my defense, Elmo was the only character that called Leela by her name and Elmo is sometimes hard to understand. And there's no 'hubbub'; I was just surprised to see someone with a piercing on a children's program. I had not realized that the character was from India; now that I know that, it makes perfect sense.

Sesame Street has been doing a good job using her to show parts of Indian culture. Not a huge amount, but it's great to see a character that manages to bring parts of a culture into the homes of children who wouldn't know otherwise.

I'm wondering if they'd explain the nose piercing and any cultural significance to that in an upcoming episode....

Well I assume some of the female cast members have had ear piercings over the years, hehe.

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Well, ear piercing isn't really that big a deal, since, well, it's been pretty common for women to wear some frm of jewelry on their ears, whether they're earrings, piercings, what have you...

I mean, I can see why someone with a nose ring, or nose piercing, whatever, would seem a little unexpected to people, especially on a kid show, but there's one thing that SST, and the Muppets in general, have been known for, and that's keeping up with the times, and it's really relevant: look at the 70s how many sketches and inserts reflected the disco era, or the 80s when everything was all neon and "glam" and everything... in our modern-day society, it isn't uncommon to see someone with some form of body piercing, remember in MFS, Sam's jaw dropped when he saw a teenaged girl dancing, exposing her belly, which had a piercing in the belly-button... or heck, The Dot in IAVMMCM was a BIG example, I found that a lot more disturbing than someone on SST being seen with a nose ring (plus, heralde has a point, Leela's nose ring could have cultural significance). Or even more recently, Miss Poogy and her borderline S&M getup.

Is it inappropriate to expose kids to this? Well, I think that is mostly up to how parents feel about it... a nose ring may or may not sit easily with some parents, but suppose she had other piercings? Like say, her brow? Lip? Even tongue? That may be pushing a little, but who knows? I think mainly it's those who are more old school as far as their views go are more likely to think such a thing would be a little inappropriate... it's sort of like myself and The Squirrely Squirrels: I wanted them to reflect today's mainstream contemporary fashion, with their clothes and colored hair, they project a desired image, but isn't too overtop... now, had I gone a step further with piercings, fishnets, little leather straps and chains, etc, that may have been pushing it a little.

What's funny is that reading in the 40 Years book, Emilio Delgado said they had asked him to shave off his mustache when he had gotten the job of being a part of the cast... I wonder why that was? Gordon had a mustache, why couldn't Luis have one too? What Luis have been like with a mustache?

Well, ear piercing isn't really that big a deal, since, well, it's been pretty common for women to wear some frm of jewelry on their ears, whether they're earrings, piercings, what have you...

I mean, I can see why someone with a nose ring, or nose piercing, whatever, would seem a little unexpected to people, especially on a kid shows

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It just shows that what's offensive and strange is often in the eye of the beholder. There is no logical reason why ear piercing is more acceptable than nose piercing, but that's just how the pop culture has formed in the US. Other countries can have different norms.

I stick out a bit for being a dude with both his ears pierced and currently short hair, but really it's not something people notice. I, of all people, am completely and utterly desensitized to people with body mods. Leela DOES have her nostril done and I believe it is a cultural thing, but as far as I can see there is no issue with that sort of deal unless you're a fuddy-duddy conservative type that judges soley on appearance. The notion of children not being exposed to people with body modification, not matter how minor, is just as bad as children should not watch a television programme just because an actor is gay, and that is "bad for children" according to some predjuiced people.

Here in Australia at least, you're protected by law from being discriminated as an employee (therefore often as a performer) on the basis of appearance.

I know this is an old thread, but I'm bumping it because in the four years since this thread's inception, I've seen the nose ring thing really catch on fire among women in general, and not just those who belong to the Indian culture in some way or form; it's not an exaggeration to say maybe half of the women I know in real life have some form of a nose ring, whether it's like what we see Leela wearing, or even one of those that look like bull nose rings. And even on Patrick Wartburton's new sitcom his, his wife on the show (who kind of looks and dresses inappropriately for a woman her age, but that's besides the point) has a huge stud in her nose.

So, again, I think it goes back to the post I made years back about how SST keeps up with the times as far as real people go.

I know this is an old thread, but I'm bumping it because in the four years since this thread's inception, I've seen the nose ring thing really catch on fire among women in general, and not just those who belong to the Indian culture in some way or form; it's not an exaggeration to say maybe half of the women I know in real life have some form of a nose ring, whether it's like what we see Leela wearing, or even one of those that look like bull nose rings. And even on Patrick Wartburton's new sitcom his, his wife on the show (who kind of looks and dresses inappropriately for a woman her age, but that's besides the point) has a huge stud in her nose.

So, again, I think it goes back to the post I made years back about how SST keeps up with the times as far as real people go.

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Nothing wrong with necroposting, my friend. Is the new Warburton show any good?

Considering I'm not a fan of sexual deviance in today's entertainment, I'd say no; but, if you're a fan of his (and admittedly, I am, it's just not enough of a warrant for me to check it out), I'd say at least take a gander for yourself.

To me, it looks and feels just like his previous sitcom, only with sexually active twentysomething daughters moving in.

but, if you're a fan of his (and admittedly, I am, it's just not enough of a warrant for me to check it out), I'd say at least take a gander for yourself.

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I'm disappointed that even though Patrick wanted desperately for this to come back as an internet show, he's not going to be a part of the new The Tick series because he chose another mediocre sitcom over it. I'm not going to lie, I did like the live action The Tick series to an extent. The Die Fledermaus and American Maid expies sucked, and they pretty much ruined the show for me. It's one of those subtext vs. "now we can actually say it" deals between the characters and their expies, but that's another whole thing. But Patrick Warburton was the best thing about that show because he encapsulates what made The Tick great in all forms. He certainly plays a type, and I like him when he plays it, be it Kronk, The Tick, or even that one episode of The Batman where he's Bruce Wayne's bodyguard. I honestly would rather they just did an adult swim animated TV show in the vein of Venture Bros (as some of the writers wrote past The Tick projects including Karma Tornado and the animated series) than a new live action show. But I'd also rather Warburton not do another awful series like Rules of Engagement where he doesn't do or say anything funny.

I kind of feel like Patrick Warburton's in a similar league as Steve Carell in that his voice work seems to be a little more enjoyable than his live action work. Puddy was an amusing character on SEINFELD, but he seems to bring that same type of performance to his other live actions roles; his voice work, on the other hand, he get really let loose and fly all over the place. His character from BEE MOVIE is like nearly psychotic if his perfect little world is turned upside down by a bee: "WHY IS YOGURT NIGHT ALWAYS SO DIFFICULT!!?" That kind of meltdown performance seems like it would be really fun to see him do that in live action.

I honestly just hate Rules of Engagement. I mean, even in Seinfeld, Puddy was kind of a moron with a little bit of a manchild dudebro in there. His role in ROE was just married guy. The thing is I really wanted to like ROE, since I needn't say how much of an Emperor's New Groove fan cuz everyone kinda knows that. So I was like "DUDE! A sitcom with Kuzco and Kronk? Sign me up!" And like the 2 times they actually were on screen together, it actually was kinda fun, but I really think as far as writing goes, they really didn't give Warburton anything to work with. It's like I also wanted to like Till Death and then 2 episodes in it was just, okay...this is just King of Queens (same writers and everything) only all the fat jokes have been replaced by tall jokes. And it's like somewhere down the line they knew the show was pointless and they made one character paranoid that he was in a TV show because it's different enough or something. GAH, I dunno.

Steve Carell seems to be inspired heavily by Don Adams and Leslie Neilsen in his striaghtfacedness. I mean, that's pretty much why he starred in the Get Smart movie (a perfect fit) and he even produces a show obviously trying to be Police Squad as a CSI show (that's actually pretty good). But Pat's problem in ROE was all because the show was just bad. Though they did make a reference to our favorite Muppet, Scooter, so it's not all bad.

But I'm just disappointed because Pat really wanted this new The Tick series to happen and he was aching to star in it, only for him not to actually be in it when it happened. Even the creator of The Tick didn't want to bring the character back (supposedly) and he's working on it. Though I still think it needs to be animated. The biggest problem with the live action series was its budget not allowing for actual Super Hero stuff. Can't imagine an even smaller budget's going to help this.